Metformin for insulin resistance due to high dosage GH pre contest.

[fritzer]

8iu GH a day
3iu 5 AM. 2iu 11AM. 3iu 4PM pre wo.
Dosing humalog before breakfast and gym 10iu.

Fasting sugars before GH run was average of 85 on no ancillaries. On GH, 500mg berberine 2x a day and 300mg R+ALA 3x a day. Fasting glucose now an average of 75. I think berberine is powerful.

At berberine 500mg 3x a day I get obvious hypo and drops below 70.

Have metformin in hand in case I ever need, i would throw some in before bed probably.

Regardless of what you use, i would say know your baseline before you begin and monitor/record your sugars as you go. Add ancillaries as you need.

 

[Wunderpus]

I haven't seen any anecdotal evidence to support that berberine is a viable replacement for a prescription diabetic drug. For me personal it was only affecting my bg levels my maybe 3-4 points taking 500mg 3x a day. Whereas the metformin like I stated above has for the most part fully fixed the issue in under a week. With no noted side effects whatsoever.

I have seen some people have great success with berberine. That just wasn't the case for me.

As for basal insulin, I feel like that would be counterproductive to fat loss and getting leaner as I am 10 weeks out in contest prep. I think that would be a great option for me in off season but even then I significantly reduce the GH dose and bg isn't an issue or hasn't been during off season in the past.

As for cardio I'm doing 45 minutes steady state post workout every day.

Go read the amazon reviews on any of the berberine meds... Users show their before and after BG measurements when replacing Metformin. Tough to argue with the thousands of happy users.

 

[rpbb]

Go read the amazon reviews on any of the berberine meds... Users show their before and after BG measurements when replacing Metformin. Tough to argue with the thousands of happy users.

just can't figure out what's the point, I know alot of people on metformin that have no problems with it, and there's a whole bunch of scientific studies backing it up

 

[Big.E89]

Go read the amazon reviews on any of the berberine meds... Users show their before and after BG measurements when replacing Metformin. Tough to argue with the thousands of happy users.

I would just rather trust scientific clinical studies rather than going by Amazon reviews. If I applied that same line of thinking to following everything I've heard from people on proper way to diet / run gear protocols I wouldn't have made it as far as I have as a bodybuilder.

Going by my own personal experiences, now that I have some and can draw my own conclusion. I have to say for me, I notice a substantial difference between taking metformin over berberine.

I feel if berberine served as a strong enough supplement that it's results were the same or better than metformin my doc would have had no reason to even suggest metformin he would have just advised to take berberine instead. I know that any person who may be a diabetic is going to err on the side of caution when it comes to choosing between a prescription med versus a supplement that has limited proof to how well it serves as a compete replacement for therapy over a medication. Yes I know there are some very promising supporting material backing it up online as I've read some.

I have no stomach issues or sides whatsoever taking metformin 2x a day.
Once with pre workout meal and again before bed at 500mg

 

[Roco Bama]

Metformin made my fart smell really bad. If you don’t get side effects from metformin I would just stick with medformin.

 

[Wunderpus]

I would just rather trust scientific clinical studies rather than going by Amazon reviews. If I applied that same line of thinking to following everything I've heard from people on proper way to diet / run gear protocols I wouldn't have made it as far as I have as a bodybuilder.

Going by my own personal experiences, now that I have some and can draw my own conclusion. I have to say for me, I notice a substantial difference between taking metformin over berberine.

I feel if berberine served as a strong enough supplement that it's results were the same or better than metformin my doc would have had no reason to even suggest metformin he would have just advised to take berberine instead. I know that any person who may be a diabetic is going to err on the side of caution when it comes to choosing between a prescription med versus a supplement that has limited proof to how well it serves as a compete replacement for therapy over a medication. Yes I know there are some very promising supporting material backing it up online as I've read some.

I have no stomach issues or sides whatsoever taking metformin 2x a day.
Once with pre workout meal and again before bed at 500mg

The type 2s show before and after BG measurements. I get what you're saying, but anecdotal evidence isn't as bad as you're implying in this instance.... As there is likely no placebo effect in place, or an ego to feed, etc.

If you wish to have this standpoint, MOST of what you are following in terms of AAS/hGH would be worthless as it's almost all anecdotal.

 

[Wunderpus]

just can't figure out what's the point, I know alot of people on metformin that have no problems with it, and there's a whole bunch of scientific studies backing it up

Some folks have GI issues and some "experts" report mitochondrial toxicity (Dr. Eric Serrano is the only one I can think of currently).

 

[Big.E89]

The type 2s show before and after BG measurements. I get what you're saying, but anecdotal evidence isn't as bad as you're implying in this instance.... As there is likely no placebo effect in place, or an ego to feed, etc.

If you wish to have this standpoint, MOST of what you are following in terms of AAS/hGH would be worthless as it's almost all anecdotal.

Understandable.

I still have to fall back on my own personal experience and the undeniable fact that I noticed better results with metformin.

My only real concern would be the speculation that Metformin causes mitochondrial toxicity. Is there any evidence to back this up?

 

[fritzer]

Metformin inhibits mitochondrial adaptations to aerobic exercise training in older adults. - PubMed - NCBI

Metformin inhibits mitochondrial permeability transition and cell death: a pharmacological in vitro study

Metformin selectively targets redox control of complex I energy transduction

Metformin Impairs Mitochondrial Function in Skeletal Muscle of Both Lean and Diabetic Rats in a Dose-Dependent Manner

Metformin directly acts on mitochondria to alter cellular bioenergetics

 

[fritzer]

Regardless if metformin is working for you then keep at it

My point were more for future GH runs and new users. Start GH and monitor glucose fasted daily. If it increases add berberine and rala and titer that. If it increases further add humalog sliding scale before a couple meals or pre wo OR long acting insulin and if you run into further trouble then metformin can be a savior even at small doses before bed or with a last meal and so on

Many ways of doing this put acting before your in trouble is important. Dont wait for sugars over 100

 

[fritzer]

 

[Roco Bama]

I wanted to see how comparable is berberine to metformin so I did fasting glucose blood test on metformin and berberine separately. My normal fasting sugar level is 95~100

Went I was taking 1g metformin twice a day my fasting blood sugar came back 83



When I was taking 1g berberine twice a day, my fasting blood sugar came back 82




The glucose meter isn’t reliable. My blood sugar was coming back 95ish when I was using the meter.